On June 6, more than 300 people attended SUS’ 35^th Anniversary Gala to commemorate the organization’s history in partnering with New Yorkers living on the margins of society to help them live their best potential. The event was held at the New York Public Library in Manhattan.

The gala, sponsored by Lamb Financial Group, recognized corporate honoree The Home Depot Foundation for its shared commitment to support veterans’ reintegration into civilian life. At the event, Donna Colonna, CEO of SUS, acknowledged SUS’ partnerships with The Home Depot and other corporate, government and philanthropic partners as key in the organization’s growth in the past 35 years, and in years to come. Through its efforts in building public and private partnerships, SUS has served more New Yorkers in need of support and created platforms for important dialogue among key stakeholders. However, most important in SUS’ growth have been the partnerships that have formed with the individuals SUS supports through its programs and services.

“In our short history, the community of SUS has been a catalyst for social change and has helped make a difference in the lives of hundreds of thousands of veterans and individuals and their families facing intellectual/developmental disabilities, mental illness, and HIV/AIDS,” said Colonna. “We have partnered with them by offering housing, employment, wellness and other life-saving opportunities. For SUS it’s about quality of life for all New Yorkers, by New Yorkers helping New Yorkers. It’s a community where everyone matters.”

The event featured notable speakers representing the major industries in which SUS works, including Col. Anthony Henderson, Special Assistant to the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff for Warrior and Family Support; Kristin M. Woodlock, Acting Commissioner for the New York State Office of Mental Health; Jill Gentile, Associated Commissioner for the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities; Tony Lemma, Regional Vice President of The Home Depot, and Andrew Hurwitz, SUS board chair and partner at the Entertainment Group at Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz.

The event raised $300,000 to support SUS’ programs and services.  To make a donation to any of these initiatives, please visit http://sus.org/donate/.

To view more photos of the gala, please visit:  http://on.fb.me/13HB4gG

Last month, over 300 individuals, family members, SUS staff and volunteers gathered at our third annual SUS Family Fun Day at Astoria Park in Queens. The event was a huge success. The day kicked off with a morning stretch and an Opening Ceremony March around the track, representing 25 SUS residences and programs for individuals with developmental disabilities. Athletes from our programs competed in sprint races, an egg race, softball put, hula hoop contests and a basketball tournament. The day was also complete with dance performances and art and craft activities throughout the day. To view more photos of this year’s event, visit our Flickr page.

The day stands as a testament to the potential of these individuals to excel in all that life has to offer. The event was made possible with funding provided by the SUS Young Leadership Council and the help of volunteers. We are grateful to everyone who contributed to the success of the day. Together, we celebrated the achievements of each individual, and the SUS’ extended family in the community.

We look forward to next year’s SUS Family Fun Day. For more information about SUS’s Developmental Disabilities program click here.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), a disorder of brain development, has become more widespread in the last four decades. In 2012, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that one in 88 children is diagnosed with ASD, while other sources report one in 50 children – a ten-fold increase since the 1970s. It emerges early, usually between the ages of two and three, and significantly affects individuals’ social, communicational, intellectual and behavioral capacities throughout their journey to adulthood.

While the prevalence increases, few people realize that adults with ASD need as much care as their younger counterparts. Services for adults with Autism exist, but unlike special education services during K-12 school years, they are not mandated and there are fewer of them.

Although some people with ASD do overcome Autism as they get older, most face challenges throughout their lives in securing employment and adopting activities of daily living (ADL) skills. In severe cases, ASD may also be comorbid with other medical conditions, such as physical disabilities, intellectual deficiencies or mental illness. Many of these individuals are unable to live independently and need full-time residential care for life.

When individuals with ASD graduate from high school, their biggest challenge is in successfully transitioning to adulthood. Therapies are used in special education when caring for children with Autism at schools, such as applied behavior analysis (ABA), to improve functional independence. Unfortunately, it is rare to see rigorous ABA being applied to adults with ASD.

This, coupled with a shrinking government budget for developmental disabilities services, creates daunting challenges in the ASD field. The field is now in a transitional phase, with more pressure from government agencies to provide care with limited resources. Last month, the New York State Assembly passed the state budget for 2013-2014, which cut $90 million in funding for people with developmental disabilities. The cuts challenge organizations like SUS to spread human and financial resources thin.

“Not only do we have to face great challenges to be more creative, but we also need to think about survival of the organization from day to day,” says Louis Cavaliere, Senior Vice President of Developmental Disabilities Services at SUS. “These cuts hurt organizations like SUS, but most importantly, those vulnerable individuals who need our help.”

Despite this rocky period of limited funding, opportunities remain for SUS to influence the developmental disabilities industry. In the past year, Dr. Brian Iwata, one of the foremost researchers in the world of ABA, has worked with SUS to align our work in behavior management with best practices. A key component of this work uses functional behavioral assessments (FBA) to identify the purpose of problem behaviors among adults with Autism. The better staff can help individuals with Autism develop stronger communication skills, the more independent they will become. As this area of our work develops, it will help to inform SUS staff in developing effective, customized intervention plans for our adult residents with Autism.

This ongoing project is still at the data-collecting stage, but both Dr. Iwata and SUS are optimistic about its future. It is SUS’ hope that implementing a rigorous, adult-focused approach to ABA will benefit the individuals we serve and encourage other human service organizations to adopt a similar urgency to serving adults with Autism.

Our work in this new space is also a great opportunity for SUS’ health care workers to learn and put in practice the most up-to-date research from known experts and to use this knowledge to develop their future careers in the field. While this project can be time consuming and costly, it will maximize the rewards for people with ASD, their families, and those who care for them.

Today, over two million individuals in the United States are affected by ASD, and this number continues to increase. As children grow up, more focus should be paid to adults with Autism, especially to those who also experience other medical conditions. A reliable, evidence-based, data-driven practice for this population will eventually be a solution to reduce health care costs.

We hope this project creates a window for the general public to gain a better understanding about ASD, and creates a healthier atmosphere for the individuals we serve with Autism. SUS’ leadership in the field—particularly through the Interagency Council of Developmental Disabilities Agencies, on which SUS CEO Donna Colonna will assume the position of President effective June 2013—gives us opportunities to influence other human service agencies to adopt individualized and flexible person-centered services. Educating the public on the challenges individuals with developmental disabilities face helps to remove barriers that hold them back from maximizing their potential.

Today, SUS observes National Volunteer Week and National Volunteer Month to honor people who donate their time to service. Although the national volunteer rate has slightly declined in recent years, between September 2011 and September 2012 over 64 million people in the U.S. volunteered at least once, dedicating over 8 billion hours to organizations.

Last Saturday, April 20, ten volunteers joined participants of SUS’ Urban Farms Program at our Dewitt residence in Brooklyn to kick off National Volunteer Week and to celebrate Earth Day. Volunteers helped clean, weed and seed the farms at Dewitt. Thanks to their hard work, this year the residents of Dewitt will enjoy wildflowers and edible flowers, such as Nasturtium.

This year marks two years since the launch of SUS’ Volunteer Program. Over the past two years, more than 300 volunteers have given nearly 2,000 hours of their time. Many volunteers have participated more than once and some volunteer their time regularly.

Although SUS’ Volunteer Program is relatively young, it supports SUS programs and services by giving staff more time to work with the individuals we serve and offering volunteers’ skills and expertise. Volunteers have worked collaboratively with our residence programs—leading art, yoga and meditation classes; assisting with Peer Specialist Training workshops; preparing gifts for the winter holidays; and assisting with administrative work, among other activities.

A growing component of SUS’ Volunteer Program is corporate volunteerism in which SUS partners with corporations to design projects suitable for their employees. In the past SUS has teamed with American Eagle, Banana Republic, Goldman Sachs, Nielsen, PIMCO, SoftChoice, and TheBody.com to organize volunteer activities at our residential and day programs. This week, employees from Banana Republic and five participants at SUS’ South Bronx Day Habilitation Program worked together to paint a wall mural at the site.

The Volunteer Program also helps to improve community awareness of SUS. Some of our volunteers are neighbors of SUS programs, furthering our mission to support individuals with special needs to live with dignity in the community.

As one volunteer said, “My volunteer experience with SUS has been wonderful. I have learned a great deal about the services SUS offers and the impact it has on people’s lives.”

SUS’ volunteer opportunities are posted on NYC Services, Idealist and VolunteerMatch. To learn more about SUS Volunteer Program, please contact Minjung Park at mpark@sus.org.

Last week, SUS’ Young Leadership Council (YLC) hosted “Culture & Cocktails Soiree” at De Buck Gallery in Chelsea. The event raised awareness of SUS among a live, young professional crowd and raise funds for SUS’ Urban Farms Program, a program open to all SUS participants interested in agriculture as an employment pursuit or as a casual hobby.

While attendees enjoyed an exhibition of work by Paris-based artist Soonja Han, the event drew attention around the work of SUS in providing human service programs to people with special needs in New York. The event was kicked off by Donna Colonna, CEO of SUS, who shared the history of the Urban Farms Program and introduced Michael Hollis, SUS’ new Director of the Program. Hollis shared the Program’s plan for expansion and was joined by Miguel Maldonado, a former participant of the Program who used it to help direct his life out of homelessness and into employment at SUS.

Started in 2010, the Urban Farms Program engages SUS consumers in planting, tending and harvesting organic produce, which is distributed to SUS residents to enjoy. Beyond providing access to free organic produce, the Urban Farms Program also provides much-needed part-time employment to several SUS consumers. Overall, consumers engaged by the program have improved health, wellness and harm reduction, develop a sense of pride and accomplishment and become more accountable and responsible as a result of their participation.

“For me, this program was an opportunity to take a chance. I spent years with drugs, depression and in and out of different jobs, and I really didn’t feel a part of anything,” said Maldonado, Accounting Clerk in SUS’ Finance department. “The Urban Farms Program gave me an appetite for more. I felt that I could function, I could do things, people would listen to me, and I felt important.”

Today, SUS’ Urban Farms Program is active at four SUS sites in Brooklyn in the Brownsville, Bushwick and Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhoods. This summer, the Program will launch at one more Brooklyn site in Brownsville and two sites in Queens, in Long Island City and South Ozone Park.

“This year we’re really looking to expanding the program and will double in size with new rooftop sites, therapeutic farms and engaging more consumers,” said Hollis. “We appreciate the support from the YLC in helping to bring you all together to support the expansion of the Urban Farms Program.”

The YLC, a group of young professionals emerging as leaders in New York City, are committed to the well-being of the individuals served by SUS. By creating opportunities for the under-35 market, whether by volunteering, attending special events or donating funds, these young New Yorkers are creating pathways for their peers to become involved in philanthropic work.

For six years, the YLC has helped support the funding of SUS events. All proceeds raised from the “Culture & Cocktails Soiree” will help to expand the Urban Farms Program to more residences and supply farms with basic gardening tools.

In 2012, SUS consumers built vegetable gardens at eight housing and day habilitation programs. These gardens collectively yielded over 1200 pounds of fresh, organic produce shared by the residents at each program. Last season, ten SUS consumers were hired and trained as Urban Farms Assistants. This year, Hollis says, the Program expects to hire 20 more consumers—helping them meet their personal goal of living more independently.

To donate to SUS’ programs and services, please visit http://sus.org/donate/. To get involved with the YLC, please email Janet Perez at japerez@sus.org. To volunteer with SUS’ Urban Farms Program, please email Minjung Park at mpark@sus.org or Michael Hollis at mhollis@sus.org.  

Last week SUS launched our Social Impact Investment Conference to address the practice of creating social change through invested capital  to yield both financial and social returns. Experts in impact investment also discussed the potential for this evolving sector to support the needs of complex nonprofits, particularly as it relates to the dynamic shift in today’s economy.

“SUS is excited to have provided a platform for discussion on how foundations, philanthropists, government, nonprofits and businesses can work together to achieve social good with a return on investment,” said Donna Colonna, Chief Executive Officer of SUS. “Through this emerging industry of social impact investing, opportunities will emerge for nonprofits such as SUS to provide scalable, replicable service solutions for the people who need them most.”

Those attending the conference included institutional investors, foundations, corporations, government, complex nonprofits, and individual investors. Their common objective is to invest in public-private partnerships that will provide a return on investment while also alleviating poverty, reducing healthcare costs, creating affordable housing, building needed infrastructure, or conserving natural resources.

The number of institutions and high net worth individuals who  are familiar with impact investing has doubled since 2010 and experts say that by 2020 there could be between $400 billion and $1 trillion dollars directed toward impact investing. Over the last decade and a half assets under Social Impact Investment management grew from $12 billion to $640 billion. The performance of these funds illustrates that it is possible to achieve both financial and social objectives.

“Our recent State of the Sector survey showed that demand for social services continues to outpace our ability to finance them in traditional ways. Connecting great social service organizations to creative impact investors will be one important component of how our social system will adapt to new funding realities,” said Antony Bugg-Levine, CEO of the Nonprofit Finance Fund and co- author of Impact Investing.

According to Lisa Hall, President and CEO of the Calvert Foundation, “We are living through a paradigm shift in our economy and society at large. We invest in nonprofits that are well managed, have worthy ideas and strong leadership and because of this we have achieved a 100% repayment level. All of our money has a positive impact and more and more people are seeing that they can invest this way.”

Liz Luckett, Director of Impact Investing at the Pershing Square Foundation said, “It is important for foundations to invest in organizations with strong leadership and clear social missions that are often using blended capital until a market solution can be proven.”

By Michael Hickey
Man About Town (Repost)
March 29, 2013

You know, about a year ago I was having breakfast with a good friend over at Services for the Underserved - a well established nonprofit social services provider and affordable housing developer (Hi David!) – and we got to talking about corporate social responsibility.  I mean, there are an awful lot of good intentions out there, and a lot of self-serving hoo ha to go right along with it.  Where, we asked, could we have a substantive dialogue that advanced our little sector while addressing the needs of the most vulnerable?

Thus was #SUSConf2013 born: the SUS Social Impact Investment Conference.  And it’s happening next Wednesday, April 3rd, generously hosted by Bank of America.  There are a few (and I mean a few) tickets left.  Don’t wait.

Thanks to our amazing Advisory Committee and the wonderful board of SUS, we’ve pulled together a really compelling group of presenters.  Speakers and panelists include (in order of appearance):

• Donna Colonna, CEO, Services for the UnderServed
• Kerry Sullivan, President, The Bank of America Charitable Foundation
• Clara Miller, President, The F.B. Heron Foundation
• Antony Bugg-Levine, CEO, Nonprofit Finance Fund
• Arthur Webb, Owner and Principal, Arthur Webb Group
• Tracy Palandjian, CEO and Co-Founder, Social Finance, Inc.
• Dan Letendre, CDFI Lending & Investing Executive, Bank of America
• Margaret Anadu, Vice President, Urban Investment Group, Goldman Sachs
• Scott Budde, Project Director, Sustainable Agriculture Credit Union Research Project
• Jill Schlesinger, Editor-at-Large, CBS MoneyWatch
• Elizabeth Luckett, Director, Impact Investing, Pershing Square Capital Management
• Lisa Hall, President and CEO, Calvert Foundation

We’ve been reaching out to lots of very smart folks to create content that’s meaningful, and we’ve heard a bunch of really great ideas.  I wanted to share with you just a tiny bit of the thinking that’s gone into this conference.

Why is SUS hosting this conference? Innovation and change are all around us. SUS strives to play an active role in the trends that shape our collective efforts, and the emerging social impact investment sector holds both promise and challenge.

Nonprofits like SUS are becoming more complex. SUS manages both for-profit and nonprofit entities; makes regular use of structured finance in its work; draws upon management best practices from both the nonprofit and corporate sectors; has earned revenues as an important part of its plan for growth and stability; and can deploy larger capital allocations.  These are all the hallmarks of an emerging class of complex nonprofits that blend a mission orientation with a sharp nose for business and the ability to operate at much greater scale.

For-profit social benefit corporations are both partners and competitors. There are a number of areas (affordable housing, education, healthcare, economic development) where for-profit corporations are taking on work previously provided by nonprofits.  So you’ve got complex nonprofits intersecting more and more with social benefit corporations, or even traditional corporations seeking to meet needs closer to the bottom of the pyramid.

Convergence is good for social impact investment. Where complex nonprofits and social benefit corporations converge investors can frequently find revenue models capable of repaying principal, and even generating returns.

Social impact capital is no panacea. In spite of the opportunities of social impact investment, we must also carefully balance these against the need for grants, contracts, technical assistance and other resources.

Nonprofits need to drive more of the conversation. Nobody understands the needs and challenges of nonprofits better than the nonprofits themselves. By placing the voices of nonprofit leaders front and center on this issue, we’re advancing the entire sector.

We view this conference as a beginning. We hope to carry the ideas, alliances, and aspirations of this conference into an ongoing conversation with you and our collective stakeholders.  We hope to see you there, and thereafter.

“What is a veteran?” asked Michelle Ragoo, Program Director at the Samuel Field Y’s Afterschool Program at P.S. 115, of its Pre-K through 5^th grade students.

“A hero is someone who fights for freedom and keeps people safe, people who help others and is very brave,” said one boy at an assembly on March 15.

The elementary students at the Glen Oaks school in Queens know that our returning heroes deserve the recognition and need support when coming home. They’ve learned about the challenges veterans face and SUS’ programs and services that help meet their needs, from Howard Wheeler, Program Director for SUS’ Homeless Veterans Program, who has visited and spoken with the kids for the past two years. This year, Mr. Wheeler returned to PS 115—but this time to thank the students for the money they raised for SUS.

With the help of AmeriCorps high school volunteers who partner with the afterschool program, students of PS 115 raised $1,000 for SUS through a bake sale and school dance. The donation was presented to Mr. Wheeler and Nicole Robinson, SUS Service Coordinator for Supportive Services for Veteran Families, who thanked the kids on behalf of SUS.

“It really touches an old man’s heart…It means so much to us that you all, as young as you are, have the mind to think about someone other than yourself, to think about those who are less fortunate,” said Wheeler.

The donation ceremony was covered by the Queens Chronicle, Queens Courier, TimesLedger, and New York Daily News.

Evening Food Offerings Curated by Celebrity Chef Andrew Zimmern, Host of Bizarre Foods

On March 6, SUS hosted the Inaugural Dinner for a Better New York for the food, business and entertainment industries at Riverpark Restaurant in Manhattan. Celebrity chef Andrew Zimmern presented international dishes from a collection of 10 respected celebrity chefs who donated their time to cook and prepare on site at the event.

The event celebrated the efforts of SUS’ human service programs and services in helping to make New York a better city for all who live in, work in and enjoy it, and funds raised will support our mission to provide support services for our consumers. At the event, Zimmern, host of the Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods and host of MSN’s web series Appetite for Life, sponsored by Toyota, presented the 2013 Toyota Prius Plug-in used in the MSN show to Donna Colonna, CEO of SUS, to use as part of SUS’ fleet.

“There is much to celebrate tonight,” said Colonna. “Over the past 35 years, SUS has served New Yorkers with special needs who live with a wide range of challenges, and who often did not have opportunities for full citizenship, and I am happy to see partnerships form tonight in support of our efforts to serve these individuals.”

In addition to remarks by Colonna, Zimmern and Andrew Hurwitz, partner at the Entertainment Group at Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz and chair of the Board of Directors, the event featured a cocktail hour, a five-course culinary dinner and a performance by Amanda Green, award-winning composer-lyricist whose show “Hands on Hardbody” is currently on Broadway.

Hors d’oeuvres were prepared by Marc Forgione of Restaurant Marc Forgione, Alex Guarnaschelli of Butter and The Darby, Nobu Matsuhisa of Nobu, and Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette of Toro NYC. Dishes served at the table were prepared by Floyd Cardoz of North End Grill, Andrew Carmellini of The Dutch, Gavin Kaysen of Café Boulud, Masaharu Morimoto of Morimoto, Andrew Zimmern of AZ Canteen, and Michael White of Marea, Osteria Morini and Ai Fiori. Dessert was prepared by Johnny Iuzzini. Wines were provided by Lee Schrager and Palm Bay International and coffee and tea were provided by Grace Hightower De Niro and Coffees of Rwanda. Among the  more than 150 guests were leaders in the food, business and entertainment industries, including Maggie Norris, designer for Maggie Norris Couture; Drew Nieporent of Myriad Restaurant Group; and Pat LaFrieda of Meat Purveyors.

“I am thrilled to have had the opportunity to help pull together such a successful event. It speaks to the commitment of the amazing cast of chefs and all who attended to learn more about and support SUS’ work with people in vulnerable conditions who need it most,” said Zimmern.

To stay connected, please follow SUS on Twitter @susincnyc and search the hashtag #susdinner4nyc on Twitter and Instagram.   

This month is American Heart Month. While most people associate cigarette smoking with breathing problems and lung cancer, smoking is also related to the risk of heart disease and heart attack. Smoking is even more prevalent among people with mental health issues, one of the biggest populations SUS serves.

According to Sylvia Andreatto MA, Substance Abuse Specialist for SUS’ Wellness Works Program, who works with individuals with mental health issues, preventing heart disease requires a lifestyle change, beginning with quitting smoking. However, the challenge for people with mental health issues to quit smoking is often compounded by a history of substance abuse, especially for those who have spent years living on the streets or in shelters. Studies have shown that people with mental illness are much more likely to smoke cigarettes than other populations, and high smoking rates often persist even after they have quit abusing drugs or alcohol.

For this reason, addressing the prevalence of smoking among our consumers has increasingly become a priority for SUS. Ms. Andreatto heads SUS’ Smoking Cessation workshops at six SUS residences that serve consumers with mental health challenges. The workshops help to increase awareness of the potential health risks of smoking and help them reduce their cigarette consumption, quit and eventually improve their heart conditions.

Most of the workshop participants, she says, have spent over half of their lives smoking and have never prioritized their health. For many SUS consumers, improving ADL (activities of daily living) skills—hygiene, social skills, and making healthy food and exercise choices— happens in very small increments, so the task of quitting smoking is a heavy lift, and when they are successful in quitting, the achievement speaks volumes to their personal commitment to improve the quality of their lives.

Every day, Ms. Andreatto provides group seminars and one-on-one counseling on the potential damages caused by nicotine and strategies to reduce the amount of daily cigarette consumption. Participants share their stories and feedback about their struggles related to wellness.  By the end of the Smoking Cessation workshop series, many participants have reduced their consumption of cigarettes dramatically, and some have quit completely. Over time, Ms. Andreatto says, a stronger heart allows them to be more active outdoors and exercise more often, as well as reduces the risk of heart attack and heart disease.

The Smoking Cessation workshops are part of SUS’ Wellness Works Program, which has been in practice for four years and is sponsored by The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The goal of the program’s comprehensive, coordinated treatment approach is designed to help individuals maintain stability, avoid hospitalization, and continue progress toward improving the quality of their lives. The Wellness Works Program fosters partnerships with wellness, vocational and educational programs with other agencies to help meet a variety of consumers’ needs. Its services include one-on-one therapy, nutritional counseling and education, exercise groups, wellness works group, Integrated Dual Disorder Treatment groups, and other person-centered activities.

More than a quart of participants in the Wellness Works Program have reported positive lifestyle changes, including a substantial decrease in depression, psychotic symptoms, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

To learn more about SUS’ Smoking Cessation program and Wellness Works Program, please contact Brenda Whitaker at bwhitaker@sus.org or 718-230-1262.